Ventilating and humidifying system



March 18, 1930. G. T. MARKEY 1,751,093

VENTILATING AND HUMIDIFYING SYSTEM y Filed Feb. 6, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l Figi. /v

y), INVENTO i i 303/ 40 lyL Uf wa@ I TvToRNEKYS March 18, 1930. v G. T. MARKEYJ 1,751,093

VENTILATING AND HUMIDIFYING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 6, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORXE YS.

Patented Mar. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE GEORGE T. MARKEY, F FORT ATKINSON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB T0 JAMES MANU- FACTURING- COMPANY, 0F FORT ATKINSON, WISCONSIN VNTIIJATING AND HUMIDIFYING SYSTEM Applicatiomled February 6, 1926. ,Serial No. 86,482.

This invention relates to improvements in Ventilating and humidifying systems for incubators, particularly for multiple compartment .incubators, commonly designated as mammoth incubators.

Objects of this invention are z-to provide means for adequately controlling the passage 4 of air through the individual compartments; to provide means for assuring an adequate distribution of airl throughout each compartment; to provide delicate thermostatically controlled dampers for the respective compartments; to provide simple and effective means for humidifying the air and varying the degree of humidity by varying the area of exposure of the water to the air for absorption, and in general to provide means whereby an incubator may be adequately ventilated, properly humidified, and the ventilation system utilized in part for temperature control within a narrow range of possible variation.

In the drawings 1 Figure 1 is a plan view of one end portion of my improved incubator, with parts'broken away.

Figure 2 is a sectional view, drawn on line 2-2 of Figure 1, showing superposed cornpartments, the lower one being partially 1llustrated in front elevation.

Figure 3 is an isometric view of one of the thermostats and its supports, together with an associated outlet damper in the front wall of the incubator, a fragment of which is shown.

Figure 4 is a detail view of `one end portion of the damper frame.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of the same on line 5-5 of Figure 4 showing also the frame in section.

Figure 6 is a detail isometric view of the improved humidifying pan. Y

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional View of one of the humidifying pans and associated parts7 illustrating themeans drawn to the same plane as Figure 2 and illustrating the use of said pan as part ofthe circulation controlling means.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

In the type of incubator illustrated in the drawings, one or more tiers of superposed egg receiving compartments 'are arranged end to end in association' with an air passage 10 extending along the rear wall of the compartment of each tier. In the construction as illustrated in Figure 1, the compartments 11 and 12 are arranged with their backs opposing and spaced apart to form the air passage 10.

r1`he number of compartments vertically superposed in each tier and the number in lineal alignments may be variedvto increase.

or decrease the capacity of the incubator by increasing or decreasing the number of compartments, and in a companion application bearing even date herewith Serial No. 86,483, filed February 6, 1926, means are illustrated yfor expanding the elements' of the heating system to suit the requirements ofl such variations in capacity. -The structural features of the egg trays 18' are not essential to the invention herein claimed. The egg, trays may be of any ordinary construction, except as hereinafter specified, and further description ofsuch egg trays in this application is,

therefore, unnecessary, except to say that the egg. trays 13 and the nursery trays 14 have foraminous bottoms which permity air circulation therethrough and promote distribution o f the air currents. l

Air from the passage or flue 10 is permitted to enter each compartment through a horij zontal slot 15 in its rear wall, whence it passes over a humidifying pan 16 and upwardly through the nursery, tray. and egg tray to the upper portion of the compartment, and thence outwardly through a slot 17 in the front wall to the exterior. The flow of air through the outlet slot 17 is controlled by a damper 18, the position of which is determined by a thermostat 19 having a movable wall 20 connected at 21 with a lever 22 pivoted at 23 to a supporting arm 24. The lever 22l has its long arm connected by a link 25 with a rocker pin 26 journaled in a bracket 27, which is secured to a flange 28 projecting inwardly from the damper 18. The thermostat 19 is adjustably supported at a short distance above the eggs and near the center `of the compartment by a lever 30, fulcrumed at 31 to depending ears carried .by a barl 32, said bar being secured to a frame member 33 by a bolt 34, and being suspended at an intermediate point from one of the heating pipes 35 by a hookshaped hanger 36. The supporting lever-30 of the thermostat has an upwardly projecting arm through which a screw threaded adjusting rod 37 extends as illustrated in Figure 3. This adjusting rod I-exte'nds to the exterior and is provided with a projecting end member 37 whereby it may be rotated to swin the lever upon its fulcrum 31 to The arrangementis such that as the temperature rises, the movable top wall or diaphragm of the thermostat is lifted by expan sion of its contained fluid and being connected with the lever `22 'in close proximity to its vfulcrum 23, the movement isv vmultiplied in the long arm of the leger and link lin such a-manner thatthe damper willzbe opened orl closed tothe required'ext'ent'-'in correspondf 20 as thetemperature within the chamber rises or falls. I

The damper 18 is preferably formed of thin'sheet metal, suitably embossed or ribbed to provide .adequate strength with minimum weight of material, it being important to reduce the inertia to a minimum. The inwardly y projecting flange .and associated bracket tend to counter-balance lthe weight of the damper wing 18, and aweiglited arm 40 ongthe bracket 27 tends to cause the damper to close by grav.v

ity. The ends of the damper wing 18 are extended beyond the "flange 28 'and are loosely Supported within the angles formed by outwardly turned lips 41 on a sheet metal frame 42 secured to the exterior-surface of the compartment wall along the margins of the outlet slot.

Inasmuch as one of these dampers must be provided for each compartment and operated underlight pressure under conditions which require vextreme sensitiveness, the importance of thesefeatures from the standpoint of efciency and minimum cost of construction will be readily appreciated. e

The admission 'of airfrom the -rear vsid of the compartment, or from the passageway or flue 1() where such a flue is provided, is also preferablycontrolledfenot onlyin accordance with the requirements in each stage of incubation,l but also for the. purpose of counteracting the tendency of the air in the flue 10 to develop currents through `one compartment attheexpense of another. To ac, vcomplifsh this,'the inlet slots 15 of the several .compartments are lmade of substantially the Same height as the rear'wall 48 of the moisture pan 16. The bottom of the'nursery tray is immediately above the moisture pan, with j ust sutlicient clearancefto allow the moisture pan to be moved forwardly or backwardlyj within the compartment.` The moisture pan is of lesswidth l (front to rear) than the compartment and by adjusting the moisture pan inwardly inthe direction of the inlet 15 the nursery tray `the yadmission of air will be substantially cuto'. By moving the moisturerpan forwardly to the position in which it is shown in Figure 7 air vis permitted to adjust t ve thermostat, 1n its proper position.

passV upwardly through the foraminous bottom, Vsaid bottom being located ata substanf tial distance above the bottom of the'nursery tray. It is locked by latch b ar 49 engaging ln addition to the use of the moisture-pan for regulating the admission of air tothe compartment,l nd it desirable to employ a slide' 50 having an up-turned llange 51 within i. the `assaoe 10 whereb the air entering the ence with the movement Aoi? the dlaphragmy p a y t partments of the series and to counteract the tenden'cydue to thel location of any compart-A ment in the series to permit anincreasedor decreased velocity of the circulating currents through the. inlet. The adjustment. of Vthev flange. 51 may be permanent after an incusbator has once been installed and tested, but the adjustment of the lmoisture pan to additionally-control the flow of air will be made from time to time in accordance with the internal conditions and the stage ot incubation within any given compartment.

.The moisture pan may be conveniently adjusted by means of the hookshaped member' 54 illustrated in Figure 7 where it is shown as engaging a projection 55 `from the front margins of the slide 5.0." The same hook may be employed to engage a'projection 56 on the pan 16. A

The capacity lofpthe 'moisturev panl 16 for humidifying the air inthe compartment may also be regulated in part by the adjustment of the pan as above described, b u-t in larger part by employing an invert-iblev pan 60 therein, whichA is approximately one-third of the capacityfoifthe panfl6. When the pan 60 is vinvert-ed within thepan 16, as shown in'Figure 6, only two-thirds of the water in the pan y will be exposed to the air `for moisture absorption. If the pan 60 is right side up and both,

pansV filled with water, the full capacity of the pan. 16, withoutthe pan 60, will be realized. But, if only pan 60 is )filled with water,

vthe exposure for moisture absorption will, of

course, be only one-third of the maximum capacity of the pan 16.

Therefore, by utilizing the auxiliary pan in connection with adjustments of the pan 16 toward or away from the air inlet slot 15, adequate regulation of the moisture contained within the compartment is obtained without such interference with the Ventilating currents as would be required in the absence *of the auxiliary pan 60.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent thatpreliminary control of the'ventilation in each compartment may be obtained manually by adjustment of the slide 50 and of the moisture pan 16. Subsequently, an automatic control is obtained by thermostatically adjusting the damper 18. The inlet and outlet slots have a length nearly as great as the horizontal dimensions of the front and rear walls ofthe compartment and the air entering throughv the inlet slot15 will be distributedin part by the foraminous bottom of the nursery tray 14 and in part by the similarly'fo'rmed bottom of the egg tray and by the eggs. The tendency of the air to form a vertically ascending column is thus counteracted in part, andA additionally counteracted by locating the outlet on the opposite side of the chamber. The location of the thermostat is alsoimportant, both as to its position in the central portion of the compartment and as to its position Vimmediately above the eggs, whereby the damper 18 may be con- -trolled in'strict accordance with the. temperature of the air surrounding the eggs. Proper conditions of lventilation and humidity are, therefore, obtainable, not only throughout a single compartment, but throughout a series of compartments connected' with a commonv air supply flue, regardless of whether the compartments are superposed or lineally aligned. It is, of course, not material to the invention herein claimed whether the air is circulated by gravity or under forced draft. i

It will also be obvious that while I have described the flue 10 as a part of the incubator, this is not an essential feature except in cases where incubator chambers are arranged back' to back. In such cases the opposed chambers are separated to allow air to enter through` their rear walls and this forms the Hue 10. Where the incubators are arranged in a single lineal series, the flue 10 is not essential, but it will be found desirable in such cases to set the incubator with its back near a wall of the room which is thus made to co-operate in forming a flue or quiet space free from drafts when doors or windows are opened. I claim: 1. In a Ventilating system for incubators, an egg compartment having a horizontal slot in the lower portion of one wall, said'slot and the chamber space being adapted toallow air to enter in a horizontally flowing sheet and another horizontal slot in the upper portion of an opposing wall, said slots being of a length substantially equal to the length of the chamber,.means for manually controlling the passage of air'through one of the slots by varying its width and means for thermostatically controlling the passage of air through the other, whereby the capacity of the inlet'slot may be proportioned to the normal requirements for delivery of air through the outlet, said compartment having an egg t-ray at an intermediate point adapted to promote distribution of the air current throughout the portion of the compartment occupied by said tray by partially obstructing the flow of air at all points in the space occupied by the tray. p y

2. In an incubator compartment, a moisture pan, a nursery tray having a foraminous bottom and located above the moisture pan,l and an egg tray above the nursery tray, said compartment having an air inlet aperture in one wall communicating with the space below the nursery tray substantially along its entire length and4 also laving an air outlet aperture in the opposing wall ,communicating with the exterior from the space above the egg tray, a valve controlling the flow of air through the outlet, a baie, spaced from the rear w ll and forming a downwardly extending n rmally constantly open passage leading to the inlet aperture, means for manually varying the capacity of said inlet aperture, 4 and a thermostat within the space above the egg tray, operatively connected to said valve.

3. In an incubator compartment, a moisture pan, a nursery tray having a foraminous bottom and located above the moisture pan; and an egg tray above the nursery tray, said compartment having an air inlet aperture in one wall communicating with the space below the nursery tray substantially along its entire length and also having an air outlet aperture in the opposing wall communicating with the exterior from the space above the egg tray, the space within the compartment at and above the level of the outlet being wholly unobstructed in all directions from the aperture in said wall to each of the other walls of the compartment, said aperture also having a length substantially equal to that of the compartment, a valve controlling the flow of air through the outlet, and a'thermostatwithin the space above the egg t-ray operatively connected to said valve, and manually operable means for also controlling the admission of air through said inlet aperture without varying its length.

4. In a Ventilating system for icubators, a series of egg compartments each having a horizontally disposed air inlet slot in the lower portion of one wall substantially throughout its length and another horizontally disposed air outlet slot in the upper portion of the opposing wall, intervening nursery and egg trays each adapted to permit a distribu- /close proximity to the egg tray.

compartment at and above the level lof'itsv outlet slot being wholly unobstructed in all directions and the thermostatic regulating means including a thermostat located at a substantial distance belowsaid level and in 5. In a Ventilating system for incubators,

.ia seriesv of egg compartments having air inlet openings, an air supply chamber communicating in common with the several egg compartments through said air inlet openings, and adjustable slides extending through said 'openings and provided with upwardly )extending walls in the' air chamber whereby the flow of air in theseveral compartments Vmay be separately controlled and the air directed downwardly and inwardly to the respective compartments by said slides and Vtheir upturned-langes.

dln an incubator compartmentv having an air inlet opening in the lower portion oi v one wall and a narrow outlet opening in the r bination with the walls ot saidl compartment,`

upper 'portion of an opposing wall, 'the comoi an adjustable slide providedwith an upturned valve, movable toward and away from the air inlet opening to regulate the flow ot air therethrough, a moisture pan in the bottom portion oi the compartment in a position to allow the entering air to tlow thereover, a nursery tray located above the moisture pan and provided with openings adapted to allow the passage of air therethrough and to facilin tate its distribution throughout the area of the compartment, and an egg tray located above the nursery tray and also adapted to permit the passage of air therethrough to the l air outlet. 1

7. In an incubator compartment, having an air inlet opening in the lower portionfof one vwall and a narrow outletvopening in the upper portion of an opposing wall, the comvwalls at'the respective ends of its lower margin, a thermostat supported above the central portion of the egg tray and connections between the thermostat and said tilting valve for adjusting the valve.. vg 8 In an incubator4 having anl egg compartment provided with airy inlet and outlet 'openings and intermediate egg supporting means,

the combination with the walls 'of said com-1 partment, of a frame for the air outlet opening provided with obliquely W disposed vprojecting ears, a thin sheet metal .valve havin its lowermargin loosely pivoted between sai ears and the body portion of the frame, and a thermostatsupported in proximity to the' central portion of the egg tray tively connected with said valve.

v9. In an incubator having .an egg comand opera-v f partment provided vwith an' air inlet and out-l let openings and an intermediate egg sup-v porting means and heating pipe connections, the combination with the walls of said compartment, of a frame for the air outlet opening provided with obliquely disposed pro- Iiecting ears, a thin sheet metal valve'vhaving its lower margin loosely pivoted between said ears and the body portion lof the `frammenti ,a thermostat supported in proximity to the central portion ot the egg tray and operative-V ly connected with said valve having a sustaining connection with one ofthe heating pipes and one oi the walls of the compartmeans and thermostat being located below 'the level'of the outlet opening and the space at and above the level of the outlet opening -being 'wholly unobstructed :trom the opening in all directions within said chamber.

i GEORGE T; MARKEY.

bination with the walls of said compartment,

of a moisture pan adjustable toward and vaway from the air inlet opening to regulate the flow of air therethrough, a nursery-tray located above the moisture pan and provided l l with openings adapted to allow the passage of air therethrough and to facilitate its distribution throughout the area of the com'- partment, and an egg tray located above the nursery tray and also adapted to permit the passage of air therethrough to the airoutlet, v said air outlet being provided with Ya valve pivotally connected with the compartment vment; said heating pipes, egg-'supporting l its 

